Skandapurana 2.5.13: adhyāyaḥ 13

The Blessed Lord said:

“Listen, O son, I shall explain the characteristics of the night vigil,

by merely knowing which I am always easily attained in the Kali age:

Singing, instrumental music, dance, and reading of the Purāṇas;

incense, lamps, food offerings, flowers, fragrant ointments,

offering of fruits, faith, charity, restraint of the senses;

accompanied by truthfulness, remaining sleepless, with joy and accompanied by my devotees;

accompanied by wonder and enthusiasm, devoid of sin, indolence, and the like;

joined with circumambulation, preceded by prostrations;

accompanied by the waving of lights, with an exceedingly delighted mind—

in every watch [of the night], O highly fortunate one, he should perform my waving of lights.

The night vigil on Ekādaśī endowed with these twenty-six qualities—

the man who performs it with devotion is not born again on earth.

He who thus performs [it] with devotion, free from deceit regarding wealth,

[keeping] the night vigil with supreme devotion, becomes merged in me.”

Bitten by the serpent of the Kali age, they sleep on my day;

deluded by the snare of illusion, they do not keep vigil at all.

Those for whom Ekādaśī has arrived in the Kali age without a vigil,

are ruined, there is no doubt, because life is uncertain.

Both their eyes are torn out, and placing a foot upon their heart,

those sinners do not see my vigil being performed.

In the absence of a reciter, one should arrange singing and dancing;

if a reciter is present, O lord of gods, he should first recite a Purāṇa.

The merit of a thousand horse sacrifices and a hundred Vājapeya sacrifices,

is multiplied ten million times, O son, when my vigil is performed.

On the father’s side, on the mother’s side, and on the wife’s side, O honor-giver,

he delivers these families when my vigil is performed.

If, on the day of fasting, an obstacle is initiated during the vigil,

I depart from that place after uttering a curse.

Indeed, when they perform my vigil on an unvitiated day,

rejoicing in their midst, I myself dance.

As many days as one keeps vigil in my presence,

for so many tens of thousands of yugas he resides in my abode.

Not by the offering of rice-balls at Gayā, nor by sacred fords or numerous sacrifices,

do ancestors attain liberation without the Ekādaśī vigil.

A person who performs worship with flowers during the vigil on my day / gains the fruit of a horse sacrifice for every single flower.

And whoever offers a lamp at night during my vigil,

at every twinkle of an eye, O son, receives the fruit of [gifting] ten thousand cows.

Whoever gives an offering of sacrificial food during the vigil, O son,

receives the merit of a food offering high as a mountain of rice.

And whoever gives cooked foods and various fruits,

during my vigil, O four-faced one, receives the fruit of [gifting] a hundred cows.

And whoever gives betel along with camphor during my vigil,

that devotee of mine, by my grace, becomes the ruler of the seven continents.

Whoever erects a floral pavilion during my vigil, O lord of gods,

sports in my abode riding the Puṣpaka aerial chariot.

Whoever offers incense with camphor and bdellium during my vigil,

burns away the sin accumulated over a hundred thousand births.

Whoever bathes me during the vigil with curd, milk, clarified butter, and water,

attains worldly enjoyments here, and in the end, indeed, the supreme state.

Whoever gives divine garments and various fruits,

resides long in heaven for as many years as the threads [in the cloth].

Whoever gives me an ornament made of gold and gems,

beloved to me, resides in my lap for seven kalpas.

Whoever lights a lamp for me with clarified butter, especially from a cow,

at night during the vigil, gets the fruit of [gifting] ten thousand cows at every twinkle of an eye.

During my vigil, O four-faced one, whoever lights a lamp with camphor,

waving it as a light offering, obtains the fruit born of gifting a brown cow.

Furthermore, one who provides a lamp, song, dance, and worship,

gains merit equal to [performing] a hundred sacrifices, or by hundreds of observances and gifts.

If one sings oneself and dances without shame,

in half a twinkle of an eye he obtains the fruit produced by ten million sacrifices.

Whoever prevents singing and dancing during my vigil,

is cooked in Raurava and other hells for sixty thousand yugas.

Whatever mortals come near to one who is dancing,

are released by the King of Dharma, and freed, they go to my realm.

Whoever mocks a mortal who is dancing,

during the vigil, goes to hell for as long as fourteen Indras [rule].

Whoever devoutly reads from a sacred book during my vigil,

resides in my presence for as many yugas as the number of verses.

The fruit declared by the wise for performing circumambulation,

that merit cannot be attained by ten million sacrifices over a multitude of yugas.

Whoever arranges a row of lamps before me during the vigil, O son,

accompanied by ten million aerial chariots, dwells in heaven until the end of a kalpa.

Whoever recites the deeds of my childhood during the vigil,

that man shall dwell in Śvetadvīpa for thousands of crores of yugas.

Therefore, the vigil should be kept in both the bright and dark fortnights.

Whoever recites the Gītā at night, or my Thousand Names,

obtains the merit of the Purāṇas taught in the Vedas from [that] vigil.

And whoever makes the gift of a cow during my vigil, O son,

obtains without doubt the fruit of [ruling] the earth endowed with seven continents.

Of all meritorious deeds on earth, the greatest merit

is the vigil on the twelfth day, O son, celebrated across the three worlds.

And those who keep the vigil through action, mind, and speech,

they never return from my world.

He who, having encouraged the people, keeps the vigil at night,

attains universal emperorship; this truth has been spoken by me, O son.

Those who kept the vigil at night were honored by Kakutstha;

and by his power and gifts, a sovereignty very hard to attain was won.

Whatever singers, brāhmaṇas, instrumentalists, and dancers [are there],

along with female dancers, go to my eternal realm.

Having been born into wicked wombs, even lustful people,

by keeping my vigil, obtained sovereignty over the earth, O best of sages.

Desireless dog-cookers and the like attained liberation through the vigil.

There is no distinction of caste for those who keep my vigil.

In the Kali age, meditation is not purifying, nor is the water of the Jāhnavī in the Kali age,

nor is chanting purifying in the Kali age, except for my vigil alone.

Those who indeed keep the vigil when the twelfth day arrives,

they are blessed, they have fulfilled their aim in the Kali age; there is no doubt.

Let no man in the human world be averse to the twelfth day;

for he would cast into hell his ancestors and descendants alike.

Better is one [son] endowed with virtues; what use are many sons born,

if he does not deliver all his ancestors through the vigil of the twelfth day?

A son born through [the power of] the twelfth day who recites with devotion

the māhātmya arising from the vigil spoken by me, shall deliver a hundred families.

The sin of approaching an unapproachable woman, and of eating what should not be eaten—

that sin dissolves when the vigil is performed, O son.

Whatever sin was committed out of ignorance, whatever wickedness committed knowingly,

the sin accumulated in a previous birth, and what was committed in this birth—

all undertakings, even those conceived in the mind, are accomplished,

when the vigil is performed at night on the twelfth day, O Four-faced One.

Human beings attain liberation by the vigil of the twelfth day alone.

That merit is not attained by those dwelling in Kurukṣetra, or in Prayāga during the Kali age;

the greatness of men dwelling [there is not equal to] that fruit on the twelfth days.

Not by a thousand horse sacrifices, nor by bathing in crores of sacred fords,

is that fruit obtained, O son, which is obtained when the vigil of the twelfth day is performed.

Whoever reads or hears the māhātmya connected to the twelfth day,

his soul purified of all sins, shall attain an eternal state.

All evil planets and all [other] planets are always benevolent to him;

there is no separation from offspring for him for whom the twelfth day is the purpose.

His delight in my renown is continuous, and he will never fall into distress;

in battle and in the royal court he shall always be victorious.

His intellect is always set upon righteousness, with immaculate devotion toward me;

sin does not cling to a man because of his devotion to the twelfth day.

There is no state of being a ghost for him when my vigil has been performed.

For one who is devoid of the eleventh day, there is no progress to the other world;

therefore, by every effort, that day must indeed be observed in the Kali age.

Thus ends the thirteenth chapter, titled “The Declaration of the Fruits of Keeping the Vigil on the Eleventh-Day Vow” in the Māhātmya of the Month of Mārgaśīrṣa, in the dialogue between Brahmā and Viṣṇu, in the second [section], the Vaiṣṇavakhaṇḍa, of the glorious Skanda Mahāpurāṇa, in the collection of eighty-one thousand [verses].